The London Blitz - Newly Discovered Color Film Footage

Seventy years ago today, the great City of London was in flames.

For 76 days, beginning on 7 September 1940, German planes bombed the city and the surrounding countryside.  By the time the daily air raids stopped in 1941, more than 20,000 Londoners had lost their lives.  The Blitz, as it was known, was one of those life-changing events for all who witnessed and lived through it.

In memory of the 70th anniversary of the London Blitz, rare color film footage of the bombing damage, filmed within hours of the attacks, has been  made available for the first time.

Filmed by amateur filmmaker A.E. Reneson Coucher, who was an air raid warden at the time of the Blitz, the footage has spent nearly 70 years in an attic, unseen, until now.  Thanks to the St. Marylebone Society, the film has been digitized and is now freely available at "The West End At War" website.

The fact that the film is in color makes it well worth watching.

Check out the five film clips, identified as “Pages From St. Marylebone's War Diary”, while they're available.